Water in bearings question

[sublauxation]

I just fixed a flat and was putting the tire back on and decided to check my bearings. About a teaspoon of water poured out so I took off the hub to have a look. The grease around the outer bearings is milky but looked clean around the inner bearings. There is rust on the spindle where the inner bearings sit. The inner seal looks like brand new. I thought the cap was leaking but why would the inner bearing surface be rusted more? There was plenty of grease on the inside. I've had problems with bearing buddies on a past axle but is this a good time to give them another try? Should I just clean this up with emory clothe or 1000 grit paper or is it fine as is?

Thanks for any and all input!
Chad

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Water in bearings question

Call me confused!

There is rust on the inner bearing with clear grease and water in the outer bearing grease but no rust! ???

The notch may just be a key-way that was used to align the orientation of the spindle by the axle manufacturer during welding.
That doesn't give me great concern.

The inner seal may look brand new because it isn't sealing.
I would expect to see a clean polished ring around the spindle where the seal touches the spindle.
I see rust. ???

Does the bottom of the spindle look like the top or is there a rust trail from one end to the other?

Clean up everything, remove all the rust, grease it, and check it again after few launches.

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Water in bearings question

Figured out the notch, it was to get grease to the inner bearing from the zerk on the end of the spindle.

But yeah, the grease actually looked good on the inside, where there's rust on the spindle and bad on the outer where there is no rust. The spindle nut looked pretty crusty too. There is some light spotty rust where the inner seal sits but it's mostly clean metal, I know most inner seals get blown out from too much grease, (there was none oozing out) is it possible I didn't have enough?

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Water in bearings question

Does the bottom of the spindle look like the top or is there a rust trail from one end to the other?

The spindle only has rust about half way around, the bottom is still clean polished metal. What does that mean?

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Water in bearings question

You have EZ Lube hubs. The back seal is shot and you need to replace the rubber seal in the caps.

 

[batman99]

Re: Water in bearings question

Water inside the axle's hub cavity (bearing area) is sometimes normal with boat trailers. This is because the bearing / hub gets hot while being towed down the road. It can get "very hot" going down fast hiways. When this boat trailer is backed into cold water, the HOT hub hits the cold water and it instantly contracts. This immediate contraction "can" suck water into its empty air cavity. Thus, suck water around a good seal - into the wheel hub (bearing area). To eliminate this natural science (with sudden temp changes), one must pump this inner hub cavity FULL of grease. Thus, NO more natural air pocket to suck in water (when hot hub hits cold water). With this in mind, simply install a grease cap (or EZ-Lube system) and "fill it up" with grease. No air pocket and cool hub = good thing (on boat trailers).

If wondering, I read the above science in my boat trailer manual a few days ago. This tip might be in your boat manual as well.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Water in bearings question

Water inside the axle's hub cavity (bearing area) is sometimes normal with boat trailers. This is because the bearing / hub gets hot while being towed down the road. It can get "very hot" going down fast hiways. When this boat trailer is backed into cold water, the HOT hub hits the cold water and it instantly contracts. This immediate contraction "can" suck water into its empty air cavity. Thus, suck water around a good seal - into the wheel hub (bearing area). To eliminate this natural science (with sudden temp changes), one must pump this inner hub cavity FULL of grease. Thus, NO more natural air pocket to suck in water (when hot hub hits cold water). With this in mind, simply install a grease cap (or EZ-Lube system) and "fill it up" with grease. No air pocket and cool hub = good thing (on boat trailers).

If wondering, I read the above science in my boat trailer manual a few days ago. This tip might be in your boat manual as well.

He already has EZ Lube spindles, so I'm with James. Bad inner seal. Replace and regrease and repent...........oh, sorry. No need to repent. I was thinking of Sunday.

 

[batman99]

Re: Water in bearings question

After replacing seals, do remember to "fill up" the air cavity with grease. A few squirts of grease will leave an air pocket (within inner hub) and risk water getting sucked into this open air cavity... Good luck in your future repairs - this Sunday....

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Water in bearings question

Thanks for all the info, still hoping to find out what UncleWillie meant by asking if there was only rust around the top of the spindle. I wold think if anything there would be more on the bottom.

Should I fill the inner cavity by hand or using the "EZ lube" future, which leaves me with fears of blowing out the inner seal since there is no way of telling how much pressure there is.

Either way I shall repent as it can't hurt. I've had some previous bad bearing luck which almost ended very badly.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Water in bearings question

There's no danger of blowing out the inner seal due to overgreasing with the EZ Lube system. Any excess grease will come out the front of the hub. They don't call it EZ Lube for nothin'.

 

[batman99]

Re: Water in bearings question

Here's a good video to view and apply to your boat. re: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpT6s21wcKY
re: This video also contains good wheel bearing maintenance tips as well...

If I remember correctly, Easy Lube system can only be used with an EZ Lube spindle. If no EZ-Lube spindle (re: NO grease hole within the spindle and NO grease zerk on end of spindle), then extra cost of EZ-Lube brake drum / Disc Brake hub is a wast of dollars. If not using EZ-lube system, then hand pack as much grease within the hub's inner cavity as possible. And, remember to pull hubs off every 3-6 months as well (to release water that might have been sucked past good working seals).

.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: Water in bearings question

... still hoping to find out what UncleWillie meant by asking if there was only rust around the top of the spindle. I wold think if anything there would be more on the bottom.

Should I fill the inner cavity by hand or using the "E-Z lube" future, which leaves me with fears of blowing out the inner seal since there is no way of telling how much pressure there is....

I was thinking there would be a rust trail on the bottom of the spindle also.
I couldn't see how the inner seal would leak and the water got to the outer bearing without leaving a witness trail.
If the rust is only on the top, apparently water runs up hill in your world! ???

You can fill the hub cavity through the Zerk.
The grease is pumped to the rear of the hub and all the excess flows through the bearings until it exits back out by the spindle nut, filling all the voids on the way.
Keeping the wheel rotating while you are doing the fill will help in keeping the grease moving and removing any air pockets.

You can't really pressurize the hub with the E-Z Lube setup.
It is the Bearing Buddy system that pressurizes the hub and blows the inner seal if overdone.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Water in bearings question

I would suspect that the front rubber cap is old and stiff and why he got a bit of water in the front, I had to replace them on mine earlier this year for that exact same thing. the link shows the cap and how their greased and serviced. In my case i pump in enough to fully flush the hubs.


http://sltrailers.com/What_are_EZ_Lube_Hubs_.html

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Water in bearings question

Thanks for the link MH! I cleaned up the spindle and repacked the bearings, put in a lot of grease. The other side had a couple drops of water by the inner bearings and the outer. The rubber caps aren't stiff but I'll replace them anyways.

 

[sublauxation]

Re: Water in bearings question

I was thinking there would be a rust trail on the bottom of the spindle also.
I couldn't see how the inner seal would leak and the water got to the outer bearing without leaving a witness trail.
If the rust is only on the top, apparently water runs up hill in your world! ???

And here I thought there was something specific to that, I was surprised the underside was clean. There was a little rust on the bottom of the outer bearing but essentially none on the inner. It's literally only the top half. I should have taken a picture so you guys don't think I'm crazy. I rarely do things the easy way so maybe water does run uphill in my house

Thanks for all the advice and info, I'll keep checking them to see what happens.

 

[robert graham]

Re: Water in bearings question

I have the easy lube spindles and I always pump a couple of shots of grease in the zerks every time I launch/submerge the trailer, just to force out any water that might have leaked past a seal. Also, buy a pair of those black neoprene Bearing Buddy Bras(black rubber caps that go over the ends of your hubs), that way you have double seals on the outside(the little rubber cap and the bras), to really help keep that water out(especially saltwater). Good Luck!

 

[lexer440]

Re: Water in bearings question

I have the easy lube spindles and I always pump a couple of shots of grease in the zerks every time I launch/submerge the trailer, just to force out any water that might have leaked past a seal

That is what you should do and the remedy for water intrusion is to pump with a hand pump until all contaminated grease is expelled thru front.